You make very good points, but I think a good post accompanied by good pictures will still get a nice amount of votes, what you get as rewards will of course depend on who voted for you, if you got a whale or a few dolphins you will make some good money. But I do think, after you have gotten a place among those who post good stuff and have real followers, not the number that shows on your profile (most of these are not here any more) you will start to make better profits, also curating helps a lot, you know every nickel counts and after a few months you just might have a nice amount of money, so I would just say don't give up.